Words from the Saints -- July 24, 2017
Gerald Largent
"The love of God inspires the love of our neighbor, and the love of our neighbor serves to keep alive the love of God." --St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome
"The person who fears the Lord has humility as his constant companion and, through the thoughts which humility inspires, reaches a state of divine love and thankfulness. For he recalls his former worldly way of life, the various sins he has committed and the temptations which have befallen him since his youth; and he recalls, too, how the Lord delivered him from all this, and how He led him away from a passion-dominated life to a life ruled by God. Then, together with fear, he also receives love, and in deep humility continually gives thanks to the Benefactor and Helmsman of our lives." --St. Maximos the Confessor
"You are indignant that God is indignant, as if you deserved anything good by living evilly, as if all those things that happen were still not less and lighter than your own sins." --St. Cyprian of Carthage
"When you pray, try to let the prayer reach your heart; in other words, it is necessary that your heart should feel what you are talking about in your prayer, that it should wish for the blessing for which you are asking…. Observe, during prayer, whether your heart is in accord with that which you are saying." --St. John of Kronstadt
"The principal vices - stupidity, cowardice, licentiousness, injustice - are the "image" of the "earthy" man. The principal virtues - intelligence, courage, self-restraint, justice - are the "image" of the "heavenly" man. As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49)." --St. Maximos the Confessor